Stone platforms, walls, a ceremonial plaza and standing stelae of a Maya island town, 200 by 300 metres of it, lying 30 metres…Stone platforms, walls, a ceremonial plaza and standing stelae of a Maya island town, 200 by 300 metres of it, lying 30 metres down in a volcanic lake, with pottery still sitting where it was left when the water rose. Samabaj was an island in Lake Atitlán with a ceremonial centre, occupied from around 2,000 years ago and abandoned about 200 AD when volcanic activity dammed the lake outlet and the water rose tens of metres. A Guatemalan diver, Roberto Samayoa, found it in 1996 while looking for something else, and named it from his own surname plus abaj, stone. Anchorage: Lake boats work from Panajachel and Santiago; the Xocomil makes afternoon crossings rough. Hazards: Altitude diving at 1,560m above sea level, which changes every table and computer setting, plus silt and the afternoon Xocomil wind. Mehr